TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Verhaeghe, Pieter-Paul
AU  - Devos, Louise
AU  - Ghekiere, Abel
AU  - Baert, Stijn
AU  - Lippens, Louis
        TI  - The State of Rental Discrimination: A Meta-Analytical Comparison of Five Discrimination Grounds in the Housing Market
        PY  - 2026/Jul/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18788
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp18788
        AB  - This meta-analysis compares patterns of rental discrimination across five grounds: ethno-racial origin, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and social origin. We analyze 475 field experimental estimates from 31 countries, published between 2002 and 2024. In the random-effects pooled estimates, discrimination is substantial across all grounds, with the highest levels for ethno-racial origin, social origin, and disability, and smaller penalties for men and same-sex couples. For several grounds, the pooled effect attenuates toward no discrimination after correction for small-study publication bias. Marked heterogeneity exists, including a clear ethno-racial hierarchy with the strongest penalties for Arab, North African or Turkish applicants. Contrary to prior work, discrimination is higher in Europe than in North America for ethno-racial origin and sexual orientation. There is no consistent decline over time, except for social origin. Real estate agents discriminate less than private landlords, but only for ethno-racial origin. Mode-of-contact effects are mixed. Overall, discrimination appears persistent and context-dependent, calling for more targeted and effectively enforced policy interventions.
        KW  - meta-analysis
KW  - discrimination
KW  - housing
KW  - ethnic origin
KW  - gender
KW  - disability
KW  - social origin
KW  - sexual orientation
        ER  -